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Lonely, Vinuous Hearts

Do you pine away in the small hours of the night, secretly yearning for that fellow wine lover who will make your life complete? If so, be lonely no more: There’s now a dating site where you may be able to find that soul mate who shares your passion for wine in all its forms.

Why not? There are already dating services that match up people with common interests such as golf, horses, Harleys and holistic living, as well as ethnicities and proclivities of all sorts. It was only a matter of time until someone thought of uniting people who are fiercely interested in wine.

The site is VineaLove, launched by Francoise Pauly, who also maintains a wine employment site called Vineajobs. It promises the opportunity to select and contact wine lovers who meet your criteria, and also offers an interactive forum. Coming soon are instant messaging, the ability to contact and meet fellow members for a drink while traveling, and the chance to “send a glass of wine to vinealovers you dare not approach.”

Will it work? Perhaps, but here’s the problem: There’s far more to successful long-term relationships than common interests. A shared hobby may get you over the initial conversational hump, but it’s really not that significant in the broader scheme of things. Fortunately or unfortunately, no one really understands what bonds people together, and mutual interests frequently don’t even matter. My wife and I have very little in common (she does like wine, but knows nothing about it and could care less).

Once you meet up with someone via VineaLove, of course, you’re on your own. It’s up to you to convince your date that you have a sincere interest in him or her; if you’re the type of person who’s compulsively addicted to your mobile phone, this could be a challenge. A Brazilian company has developed something called the Offline Glass, which has part of its base cut away and must rest against a mobile phone to remain upright---thus making it impossible for someone to look at their phone while having a conversation. The only issue is that the Offline Glass is a beer glass, which won’t help convince your VineaLove date that you’re truly interested. Where’s that beer lovers dating site when you need it?

Mark Spivak is the Author of Iconic Spirits: An Intoxicating History, publihed by Lyons Press (Globe Pequot); for more information, go to amazon.com